In Today’s Pop Punk News, Teenage Bottlerocket is putting out a new album July 3! Rolling Stone says a new track “gets personal,” because, you know, TBR’s last three albums of songs about feelings and girls weren’t personal. Anyway, you can listen to ‘Done With Love’ here.

The headline there sums up pretty much all I (and, I suspect, the band) knows about this show, but hey: King Elephant kicks off an epic month-long tour with a show tonight at Zoo City Apparel. They play good punk music. You should check it out. 7 p.m., all ages, BYOB, $5 probably, rest of bands TBA.

Oh, hey, I did find the Indy write-up. Boys are playing the VFW tonight with Skinny Legs, I Hate Your Girlfriend and Silly Red Hat! 9 p.m., 21+, free.

From the esteemed Jason McMackin:

“Huseby’s vocals are imbued with the scratchy, thin and distorted tone that much of the garage genre favors, but his true voice still comes through. He delivers his lyrics with the confidence of early Jagger on “Electric Chair Blues,” but there’s also a subtle hiccup in his style—a hiccup that is almost country-like in the way he swallows some of his syllables. While “Blues” and “Now a Raid of Sea People” share a similar spooky sound, one that would sit well in a picnic scene of a David Lynch film, the band isn’t all blues and melancholia. “Parapets” has plenty of “la-duh-duh-dahs” and ends quickly like the other tracks, leaving the listener la-duh-duh-dahing all to himself.”

Go read the rest of it here and check out the show if you so please. Your faithful editor would, but it’s trivia night and Lacking Doctorates are due for a victorious comeback.

Wednesday at the VFW, Boys kick off a tour with openers Skinny Legs, I Hate Your Girlfriend and Silly Red Hat. I presume this will be a lot of boys playing music with guitars. The Independent doesn’t post McMackin’s spotlight reviews online, and he does a better write-up than I do, so you’ll have to go to one of those red boxes on the street corner and get yourself a copy of the Indy and read it. Free, 21+, 10 p.m.

Thursday, King Elephant are supposed to be having a tour kickoff show that I know absolutely nothing about, so if somebody has details on that I’d be most obliged.

Gretchen, The A-OK’s, The Last Slice and Do It Kappa played the VFW June 24. We bring you this report:

God, I love me some ska. This is why I can’t lord it over the metal kids, because hands-down, my favorite kind of music to see live is just goddamn silly.

I should note that here we’re discussing the third wave permutation of ska that’s dominated by big cheesy bands like Streetlight Manifesto and Less Than Jake and beloved by suburban white kids. (If white people are good at anything, it’s appropriating the cool stuff people of color create and making it less cool. But I’ll give you the History of What Ska Actually Comes From laters.)

Third wave ska takes the dorky things about pop punk — exuberance, typically light-hearted lyrics, complete lack of pretension– and amps it up 100 percent by adding horns and a real goofy dance. My first exposure to ska was the Reel Big Fish arrangements we played in high school pep band, and I could probably still bust out Impression That I Get on my clarinet if someone gave me the sheet music. If you’re ever suffering from an overdose of hipster coolness, a blast of ska will fix that right up.

So God bless whoever brought a bunch of touring ska bands to Missoula, because the last time I saw any here was a show at the Lab in spring of 2010. We’ve had such a dearth of skanking, you guys. I was worried it would just be a few kids awkwardly head bobbing, but me and the handful of ska fans I know in this town totally came out and danced hard, work in the morning be damned, alongside some fresh faces I wasn’t familiar with. The other great thing about ska bands is, with five to seven members each, you’re guaranteed a fun crowd just if the bands watch each other.

I got there in time to see the Last Slice, from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I think they were as surprised to see Montanans skanking as we were to see Oklahomans playing ska. They were great, and delved more into the slower, reggae-based ska. Then Denver’s A-OK’s launched into a set of faster, more punk-infused style. They asked us to pick between a NOFX cover or Less Than Jake, and I strongly voted for Less Than Jake but danced when they played “Linoleum” anyway. And they played Less Than Jake a few songs later, so really everyone won here.

I skanked my little heart out and it was marvelous. The lead singer of the A-OK’s told me after the show that I seemed really into it. So, uh, I guess my cool card has officially been revoked.

I’ve also found ska is easier to dance to while sober (I cannot furiously skank on a full stomach of beer) and it creates a much more woman-friendly atmosphere than other genres I like, because skanking isn’t usually violent and the music doesn’t encourage excessive aggression. One girl danced barefoot in a dress, and while that makes me shudder thinking of the VFW floor, you can bet if she’d tried that at a metal show she’d be in a lot of pain really quickly.

Also I remember the A-OKs doing a song about not having health insurance, and mega points to them for turning topical, boring-adult things into bouncy tunes. Copays! Pick it up pick it up pick it up!

Sorry I missed Do It Kappa, but hopefully they’ll come through again so I can mock them on this here web site! Gretchen played last, and look for a full band profile write-up for them soon.

“I have been drumming singing in the rain and otherwise percussioning since the last ice age. Jesus Christ played lead flute on my 2458795213254 th album but of course I had to show him the ropes. The boy had talent, just not real talent like mine. I came here after musically destroying every top musician in every top genre (see? that word proves I’m a pro) in every country in the world.”